by Brandt Legg
“You have to. If you’re not in that portal in about sixty seconds it all ends right here, right now.”
“Why would Spencer have risked that?” I yelled, even though he was now only a few feet away.
“Don’t you get it? This is all a risk. Even the great Spencer Copeland doesn’t know what’s going to happen for sure. Can’t you stop this damn rain?”
“I’ve tried.”
“Nate. Go now!”
“Listen to him,” Amber cried. “We’ll stay with Linh.”
“If I leave her, she’ll die.”
“She’ll die if you stay,” Dustin said, staring straight into my eyes. “Lightyear will napalm this place. Go right now or everything is lost.”
I stared back trying to make him understand that there was no way I was going to leave Linh. He understood. I saw it in his eyes just before he picked me up half with physical power, half with Gogen and threw me into the portal. The last thing I heard above my cries was the clear sound of drones returning. I was still screaming when, seconds later, I landed in the Pacific Ocean with no land in sight.
17
I alternated between treading water and levitating for twenty minutes trying to find a way back in the portal before I spotted the Ninth Wave, Trevor’s boat.
“Need a ride?” He smiled when he finally reached me.
Not in the mood for humor, I climbed aboard and started yelling. “Do you know how to get back in the portal? I have to get to Linh!” I yelled.
“I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I don’t know anything about portals. I’m just supposed to take you back to Cervantes.”
I nodded and didn’t speak again until we reached the island. He had fresh clothes and a warm blanket, I was grateful, but all I could think about was Linh. I kept replaying every second in the redwoods, trying to figure out how to do it differently next time. Surely Spencer was going to send me back.
Spencer and Dustin were waiting at the dock.
“When can I go back?”
“I can’t let you go back,” Spencer said slowly.
“You can’t let me?” I exploded.
“Nate, calm down,” Dustin said trying to get his arm around my back. I spun around and swung at him. I was aiming for his jaw but hit his neck instead. He recovered and pushed me to the ground. I flew up in a Skyclimbing move. “You’re the one who sent me back here! Back to this forsaken sunny paradise where I can’t do anything to save Linh. She’s bleeding to death right now. I need to go, damn it! I have to.”
“Nate, she isn’t bleeding now. You will see her in the morning. What just happened to you is a year into the future. Linh is alive and unharmed. She’ll be here soon,” he kept repeating.
I took a deep breath. He was right. There was time to figure out how to save her. “Why are they going to be here in the morning?”
“The hour and two minutes you were in the future has to come from somewhere,” Spencer began. “It’s a complicated equation similar to when you’re at Outin. You’ve actually been gone from Cervantes for over a month.” Nothing was simple anymore, and trying to understand it all left me feeling anxious. “Nate, this was your thirteenth attempt and the first one where you didn’t die. You can’t go back.”
“The hell I can’t. I’m obviously getting better. I’ll find a way. Don’t you see? If I don’t get back there, Linh will die in a year.”
“All of that can change.”
“Stop pretending you know. You don’t know. I won’t tell them to meet me there. If they don’t meet me there, then she won’t get shot.”
“Nate, listen to me. This is all about trying to save Amber and Linh and the people at the mall. But I have to be honest with you, even with everything we’ve done these past weeks and after your mission today, I’ve never seen a future with Linh alive more than eighteen months from now.”
I stared at him, fighting tears, squeezing my fists. All I could see was the blood pumping out of Linh’s chest. I lunged at Spencer. He anticipated and moved with a breeze. I tumbled past him to the ground.
“Nate, calm down,” Trevor yelled.
I Skyclimbed, this time clipping Spencer’s elbow with my foot.
“Nate, don’t do this,” Dustin shouted, coming toward me. “Get ahold of yourself!”
I went right over him and caught Spencer in a half tackle, which he easily rolled out of. For the next ten minutes we danced mostly in the air with occasional dashes on the water or ground. Trevor and Dustin watched as Spencer played sage-like defense to my angry offense. I was exhausted but determined to beat him. Suddenly, just as I was charging him again, he vanished.
“Wow, he disappeared,” Trevor said.
“How. Did. He. Do. That?” Dustin asked.
“He didn’t really disappear. He’s right here somewhere. It’s just some kind of shapeshifting trick, or he’s used Solteer to make us think we saw him vanish,” I said, catching my breath.
“Either way, it’s freakin’ cool,” Dustin replied.
“He just knows I was going to win.”
“Nate, it’s not a contest,” Trevor said.
I walked away.
Dustin came to my room that night. “Listen, Nate. I may not be Spencer’s biggest fan, but the guy is doing his best and has managed to keep us alive this far.”
“A lot of people have been keeping us alive. There’s a whole ‘movement’ out there trying to keep us alive or hadn’t you heard?”
“Yeah, well, you’re the great leader.”
“If I’m the leader then why don’t they listen to me? Or at least tell me what’s going on?”
“I don’t know what this whole movement thing is, or about you being one of the seven, but I do know that whatever it is, you’re not ready to lead anything.”
“Oh, what makes you so sure Mr. Burnout?”
“Because a real leader wouldn’t attack his brother and start a fight with his teacher. Face it, Nate, every day you keep proving you’re just a punk.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. What have you done for the month since I’ve been gone other than lie on the beach?”
“Hanging out with Wandus.”
His answer surprised me. “Has he been able to teach you anything?”
“Working on it. He’s a lot better teacher than you, and he’s not even one of the seven.”
“Do me a favor, Dustin. Don’t bother showing up in the redwoods next year. Because I’ll knock you out as soon as I see you.”
“Sure thing. All that matters is what Nate wants.”
“Linh was bleeding to death in my arms, Dustin! I was the only chance she had to live, and you threw me in the portal. You threw her life away.”
“Grow up, Nate. Everyone dies.”
18
The plane landed as the sun was setting, turning the small jet’s white fuselage pink. For a moment, as my three friends emerged from the plane and descended the steps, they looked like awed tourists landing on a resort island. But time was attacking us from many sides, and the seriousness of our situation could be seen on each of their faces once they were close enough to hug. I held Amber, we would have four days together; after that there was nothing but uncertainty. My mind was wild with desperation to save her and Linh. A minute later Linh came into my arms and I nearly collapsed; it was overwhelming to see her alive and healthy. But she had been condemned because of things I had done in this and other lifetimes, and although I knew death wasn’t real, the thought of a world without her was unbearable. At that moment I realized that losing her would, more than anything else, kill me.
“If you have to live in hiding,” Kyle said looking around, “this is the place to do it.”
“Believe it or not, you do get tired of it after a while, but I’ve got no complaints as long as we’re all still alive,” I said.
“Your mom sends her love,” Linh said. “She’s still a little upset she couldn’t come.”
“It was too risky. You all coming was dangero
us enough, but we had to try and throw off the time-path-destiny that gets you killed.”
“How’s that coming?” Kyle asked, hugging me. I counted on Kyle’s special brand of calmness; his presence gave me strength. But since my time on Cervantes, I wondered at what cost to Kyle was his composure. He wasn’t born acting forty, so when did it happen? His parents’ death? The only time he crumbled was at the sight of police or soldiers, and there was sadness in his eyes even when he was joking.
“Thanks for coming,” I whispered to him, before announcing, “Let’s go talk to Spencer. He has a better grasp of our progress than I do.”
The girls seemed so young and innocent compared with the ones I’d left bleeding in the redwoods the day before. I didn’t know how to tell them about what was ahead, but Spencer would have already worked out how to handle this. I hadn’t seen him since his disappearing act, but Trevor reported a sighting not long after our fight. He had been sitting on the beach, typically staring out to sea. In spite of my anger, I found that reassuring.
We found Spencer at the lagoon on the floating gazebo. He greeted me with a warm look before hugging Kyle and Linh. “And Amber, I’m happy to meet you at last.”
“Likewise,” she flashed a Hollywood smile and hugged him. After everyone was done marveling at the splendor of the place, including a fancy dinner spread, Spencer asked us all to sit down.
“I wanted you all here for more than just an attempt to change the future.” He looked at our questioning faces. “I want to explain it to you.”
For an hour he told us about the many different futures he had seen, including the ones when we all die in various ways and in different combinations. It was a depressing conversation in which the five of us learned that the odds of our survival were slim. “The people behind Lightyear are attempting to take complete control of the world. The only thing that can stop them is a mass awakening, and they will do anything to stop that. This is about trillions of dollars and control of virtually all the major assets in the material world.”
“How do they think they can get away with something so huge?” Kyle asked.
“They’ve almost done it already. Their trick is that no one knows they’re doing it. Little by little they’ve gained control, but that is a discussion for later. Right now, you just need to know that they’re doing it and that anyone in their way will quickly be killed. As we’ve discussed, the future is bleak, but there is hope. A small but growing force, known as the Inner Movement, or IM, has evolved from many groups that have recognized various parts of the takeover plan and want to stop it.”
“Can the Movement succeed?” Linh asked.
“I believe it can.”
“But have you ever seen a future in which IM actually does win?” I asked.
He hesitated and then shook his head.
Amber sighed.
“Great,” Dustin said.
“But that doesn’t mean it’s not possible,” Spencer said. “Something could change today with all of you here that makes it possible for the Movement to triumph.”
“Really?” Kyle asked. “Like what? How can we make that happen?”
“Nate needs to teach each of you how to connect to your soul and tap the power of the universe. The more who are aware, the greater chance we have.”
“Let’s get started,” Amber said.
“In the morning will be soon enough. Enjoy the beautiful evening.”
It was hard to relax and “enjoy the beautiful evening” after all Spencer had told us. Dustin didn’t stay but promised to come to the training in the morning. The four of us sat around a fire on the beach under a gazillion stars.
“Tell us more about when you went into the future to try and change things,” Linh said. “Spencer said we died. What was it like?”
“Apparently there were many attempts, but so far I remember only one. It was awful, but I didn’t see you actually die.” It was all too fresh, and I couldn’t bear to talk about it. “But what I learned from that and from everything else that has happened is that time’s a strange thing.”
“How so?” Kyle asked.
“All our past lives, history itself, dimensions... they’re all happening simultaneously. There is no past and no future. There is only one instant—now.”
“Right on,” Kyle said.
“What does that even mean?” Linh asked.
“We’ve always been taught, always believed that time is linear, but it’s not. A mystic told me it was like a deck of cards, but from what I’ve experienced it’s more like a single card. You know what I mean?”
Linh shook her head. Amber’s expression told me she was almost there.
“It’s all right here,” I said, waving my arm in a circular motion.
“What?” Linh asked, exasperated.
“The multiverse,” I whispered.
19
I woke the next morning in Linh’s bed. Unable to sleep, I had wandered over to her bungalow just to look at her. I was having a hard time dealing with the bloodbath in the redwoods. We talked into the night and finally fell asleep. Being with her after knowing the future made the present seem more like a dream. She needed to be protected and hidden from that future. I wanted to do that, not just out of the obligation I felt in having caused so much of the danger, but because, although they said I was one of the seven special people, Linh was truly the special one.
After breakfast we all met on the beach, including Dustin. Everyone was happy. Dustin and I needed the new energy and company on the island. Kyle, Amber, and Linh were relieved to be safe at a secluded resort. But it didn’t last. Dustin was exceptional at mind-reading, but once the newcomers easily passed him in all other abilities, he became agitated and angry. His interruptions and outbursts were making it difficult for each of us, and finally he stormed off.
He didn’t show up for dinner, and I hoped he was with Wandus. Everyone was excited about actually being able to use soul-powers. At the same time we were exhausted from the work and the drama of Dustin. We arranged for breakfast to be brought to the beach the next morning and went to bed early. I woke from a deep sleep to muffled arguing.
“Dustin no. Leave me alone. No!” It was Amber.
I burst into the room to find him on top of her. They were wrestling on the sofa. He was pulling at her clothes. “What the hell are you doing?” I grabbed him. He turned and shoved me hard. I stumbled. Amber took the opportunity to escape. He caught her blouse and ripped it off. She fell at the same time. I tackled him before he could reach her again. He came up fast and landed two strong blows—a punch to the side of my head and another in my stomach. I was stunned.
“Stop it!” Amber yelled.
“What’s your problem?” I gasped, dodging a kick.
“My problem? You’re the one who thinks he’s king of the world with all your powers and adoring girls. Amber’s just like her sister. She’s an untrustworthy slut and—”
“Screw you, Dustin!” Amber said. “You’re jealous of your little brother and can’t stand the fact that he’s better than you.”
“I’ll show you who’s better, baby!” He lunged at her.
I got between them and used Gogen to send him sailing back onto the bed. He pulled the bedspread off and ran for me. “Can’t do anything without your powers, can you Nate? Why don’t you fight me like a man instead of being a freak.” He threw the cover over me, and we crashed to the floor.
Focusing my energy, I was quickly on the other side of the room leaving my brother holding an empty bedspread.
“Dustin, why don’t you go for a walk on the beach before I show what a freak I really am.”
He glared at me.
I stared back, trying to understand this latest personality shift. “What’s happened to you, man?”
“Do you really want to know, Nate? Why don’t you use your fancy powers and read me, and see what I went through at Mountain View.”
“Okay.”
“Oh hell, don’t waste your ti
me, little brother. I don’t want your sympathy.”
He tossed the bedspread at me. “Yeah, you’re the great mystic, and I’m the great mistake.” Dustin marched out the open doorway. I would have felt better if he slammed it.
“Are you okay?” I asked Amber.
“I’m fine. Talk about a freak.”
“Two years of drug and alcohol abuse while Outviews and voices messed with his head, then two years in a mental institution, two months of Outin lake therapy followed by two months on an island watching your brother do everything better than you. I’m surprised he’s not worse off.”
“Can’t Spencer help him?”
“Spencer is so focused on the future that I don’t think he could even if he wanted to. I’ve got to figure out a way.” I wrapped the bedspread around her; she pulled me close.
“I feel like those people in war zones. You know, like there may be no tomorrow so they pour extra passion into everything.”
I nodded.
She kissed me passionately. “Tell me about the lifetimes when we were lovers,” she whispered.
In the morning, still in Amber’s bed, one of Booker’s men woke me. I was embarrassed, not because of what he thought but because of what Linh would think, if she found out. She had less than a year to live, and I didn’t want to cause her any more pain. But after hearing what he had to say, I had bigger worries. A minute later, I was in a golf cart rushing toward the docks. Trevor was waiting.
20
Leaving Trevor at the dock, I walked back to the others on the beach to tell them what I had just been told because every change was a matter of life and death.
“We saved you some breakfast,” Linh said.
“What’s wrong?” Amber asked, seeing my face.
“Dustin’s gone.”
“What do you mean gone?” Kyle asked.
“He stole a boat last night and left the island.”
“Where’d he go? Can’t you see him on the astral?” Linh asked.
